Although the sequel to 2013’s Tomb Raider was announced at E3 this year, a potentially even bigger announcement was made at Gamescom‘s Microsoft press briefing at Gamescom. Crystal Dynamics announced that it was forging a closer working relationship with Microsoft and, as a result, Rise of the Tomb Raider is going to be an exclusive title for the Xbox console.

We found out new information today in a recent interview with Eurogamer. Rise of the Tomb Raider will be available for both Xbox One and the 360. Also– and here’s the big news– it will only be Xbox-exclusive for a “limited duration”. Phil Spencer unfortunately didn’t say how long that duration would be for.

Unsurprisingly, this announcement has been met with protests by fans previous to the latest announcement. Crystal Dynamics responded with a Tumblr post in which they explain the motivation behind this decision. The studio explains that they have entered this partnership in an attempt to make Rise of the Tomb Raider a bigger and better gaming experience. They also assure fans that Lara Croft will make appearances on their consoles of choice in December’s Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris and the PS4’s Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition.

One of the largest takeaways during this past weekend’s Gamescom coverage was more information regarding ZeniMax Online’s decision to make The Elder Scrolls Online a subscription-only game. We found out that Matt Firor, Game Director, believes very strongly that TESO will provide plenty of quality content to make a monthly subscription worthwhile. In an interview with Eurogamer, he said the following regarding what type of content updates will we see:

“When I talk about new content, I mean, we’re launching with the Mages Guild and the Fighters Guild questlines, but we’re going to launch the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood at some point as part of the regular updates. And those are 15 hours of content a piece. We’re talking major new stuff, which is going to be coming out constantly. And the way to do that the best for us is with a subscription.”

So far, the team is looking to add new, major updates at a rate of “every month or six weeks, for as long as people want to play the game.” While this all sounds good and well, there’s also another little tidbit that was discovered in a different Gamescom interview with ESOHUB.de, a German-speaking fansite. Keep reading to take a look.

Straight from Gamescom, we get a great demonstration of raiding in Wildstar. This is the first time we get a detailed glimpsed of what to expect in a larger team fight environment. Keep an eye on the brief demonstration as we see how raid boss telegraphs work. The only concern some people have is if this will make raids easier. What do you think?

Yesterday’s WildStar Wednesday talked about all the things concerning Gamescom and PAX Prime. Carbine Studios will be making appearances at both events, of course, and con-goers will be able to try out both the Chua and Mordesh races as well as explore the mid-level Whitevale zone. Fans will also be able to ask the development team and testing team questions, take part in special panels revealing never-before-seen gameplay footage, and even party hardcore with the Carbine team. For those unable to attend, the WildStar panel during PAX Prime will be live streamed.

Over the weekend during GamesCom, SWTOR Life got a chance to interview Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Hickman talked at length about some of the plans and philosophies behind the game’s model switch to free-to-play. From the sounds of it, the teams at BioWare and EA still have a lot of decision making to process and hash out before the launch of the new model. We did find out some interesting details and possibilities during the interview, however, including the following:

At the last EA conference it was said that November was supposedly the F2P launch month goal. Hickman now is saying that the company is looking at a “fall” release, and not specifically a November one.

Hickman said the team is looking at possibly making some lower-level blue quality armor obtainable with Cartel Coins, but not endgame gear.

The team plans to steer as far away from “pay-to-win” as possible.

The new space missions in development have been in development for a long time, and will be for level 50 players who have completed every other space mission and have fully upgraded their ship. They’ll be “heroic” modes, of sorts, featuring greater challenges (but yes, still on rails, unfortunately).

The team is currently trying to decide how to release Makeb, the new SWTOR planet in development, and how the F2P model will affect its release for both F2P players and continued subscribers.

Dimensions, Rift’s version of housing, were announced at GamesCom 2012 during the Storm Legion presentation. This is the video of the presentation and things may change by the time the expansion gets released.

This year’s Gamescom is sure to bring us a couple interesting updates about Star Wars: The Old Republic. The events kicked off yesterday, when EA held a press conference and talked about numerous games, including SWTOR. Most of what was said during the conference was information we already knew about, but one thing was confirmed– new content is on the way before the launch of the game’s new hybrid F2P model.

Specifically, we found out about three new additions: Terror from Beyond, which is a new Operation on Belsavis, Ancient Hypergate, a new PvP Warzone, and new space missions for level 50 players. Attendees of Gamescom will be able to test out Ancient Hypergate for themselves, in fact, which was previously announced on SWTOR’s official site.

Yesterday on the forums, we also received a confirmation of what kind of release schedule we’re looking at, at least as far as Terror from Beyond goes:

Hey everyone, just to be clear on what was said during the presentation – Terror from Beyond, a new Operation, is on its way next month, and we have more content updates coming after it, including the new Warzone and Space Combat Missions. We have lots of exciting new content coming!

From the sounds of it, the new content will be released in a staggered manner.

For the full EA Press Conference, check out this video. The SWTOR-specific part starts at around 51:35.

This year’s Gamescom is sure to bring us a couple interesting updates about Star Wars: The Old Republic. The events kicked off yesterday, when EA held a press conference and talked about numerous games, including SWTOR. Most of what was said during the conference was information we already knew about, but one thing was confirmed– new content is on the way before the launch of the game’s new hybrid F2P model.

Specifically, we found out about three new additions: Terror from Beyond, which is a new Operation on Belsavis, Ancient Hypergate, a new PvP Warzone, and new space missions for level 50 players. Attendees of Gamescom will be able to test out Ancient Hypergate for themselves, in fact, which was previously announced on SWTOR’s official site.

Yesterday on the forums, we also received a confirmation of what kind of release schedule we’re looking at, at least as far as Terror from Beyond goes:

Hey everyone, just to be clear on what was said during the presentation – Terror from Beyond, a new Operation, is on its way next month, and we have more content updates coming after it, including the new Warzone and Space Combat Missions. We have lots of exciting new content coming!

From the sounds of it, the new content will be released in a staggered manner.

For the full EA Press Conference, check out this video. The SWTOR-specific part starts at around 51:35.

This year’s Gamescom is sure to bring us a couple interesting updates about Star Wars: The Old Republic. The events kicked off yesterday, when EA held a press conference and talked about numerous games, including SWTOR. Most of what was said during the conference was information we already knew about, but one thing was confirmed– new content is on the way before the launch of the game’s new hybrid F2P model.

Specifically, we found out about three new additions: Terror from Beyond, which is a new Operation on Belsavis, Ancient Hypergate, a new PvP Warzone, and new space missions for level 50 players. Attendees of Gamescom will be able to test out Ancient Hypergate for themselves, in fact, which was previously announced on SWTOR’s official site.

Yesterday on the forums, we also received a confirmation of what kind of release schedule we’re looking at, at least as far as Terror from Beyond goes:

Hey everyone, just to be clear on what was said during the presentation – Terror from Beyond, a new Operation, is on its way next month, and we have more content updates coming after it, including the new Warzone and Space Combat Missions. We have lots of exciting new content coming!

From the sounds of it, the new content will be released in a staggered manner.

For the full EA Press Conference, check out this video. The SWTOR-specific part starts at around 51:35.

Trion released a Dev Diary for Gamescom. In this video the developers discuss player advancement with weapons and skills and other player skills and challenges. This video has a ton of new video content that you just have to see.